Skip to content
Lists

The 25 Best Foo Fighters Collaborations

Dave Grohl Brian May
LONDON - JUNE 17: Brian May of Queen and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters perform on the runway at Hyde Park on June 17, 2006 in London, England. (Photo by Louise Wilson/Getty Images)

 

4. “Outside” with Joe Walsh and Chris Goss (Sonic Highways, 2014)

 

The fifth episode of Sonic Highways took Foo Fighters to Rancho De La Luna, the California studio famous for Josh Homme’s series of The Desert Sessions albums. But instead of tapping Palm Desert Scene band Eagles of Death Metal, Grohl went to an actual Eagle, Joe Walsh, for an extended solo in the tradition of “Hotel California.” “If you’re gonna have Joe Walsh on your album, you’re not gonna just give him four bars,” drummer Taylor Hawkins told Q Magazine. “You’re gonna give him 40 bars and take us out into the fuckin’ desert, man!” Walsh also joined Foo Fighters onstage in 2018 to play his solo hit “Rocky Mountain Way.”

 

 

3. “Planet Claire (live)” with Fred Schneider (“Times Like These” single, 2002)

 

“Planet Claire” is the eerie sci-fi epic that opens The B-52’s self-titled 1979 album. In 2002, The B-52’s vocalist Fred Schneider joined Foo Fighters onstage for a heavy rendition of the song with screaming metal guitars in place of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson’s otherworldly harmonies. A recording of the performance first appeared on a single B-side and was more recently collected in 2019 on one of the archival releases marking the band’s 25th anniversary, the 00020225 EP.

 

 

2. “Everlong” with Louise Post (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)

 

You might have listened to Foo Fighters’ signature song hundreds of times without realizing that someone outside the band performs on the track. Much of The Colour and the Shape was about Dave Grohl’s divorce, but “Everlong” was about his new relationship at the time, with Louise Post of Veruca Salt. Post wasn’t officially credited on the track, but her backing vocals, recorded over the phone from Chicago, added harmonies to the cathartic chorus and some sweet doot-doot-doots to the main guitar riff. Last year, Bradley Cook, the engineer who recorded “Everlong,” appeared on the YouTube series Inside the Song to tell the story behind the song, isolating individual tracks on the mixing board so you can hear Post’s long-distance vocals more clearly.

 

 

1. “I Should Have Known” with Krist Novoselic, Bob Mould, and Jessy Greene (Wasting Light, 2011)

 

Sweet 75 notwithstanding, Krist Novoselic has been less musically active than Dave Grohl since the breakup of Nirvana. But they’ve linked up on a few occasions for big gigs like Nirvana’s 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and Novoselic’s vocal cameo on “Walking a Line” from 2002’s One by One. In 2011, Grohl reteamed with Nevermind producer Butch Vig for the Foo Fighters album Wasting Light. And Novoselic stopped by Grohl’s home studio to play both bass and accordion on “I Should Have Known,” which also featured vocals from Bob Mould and spine-tingling violin by Jessy Greene of the Geraldine Fibbers. But obviously, the main attraction is hearing Foo Fighters evoke Nirvana’s signature roar more overtly than ever before when Novoselic cranks up his Gibson Ripper on the cathartic climax of “I Should Have Known.”